Connecting Agencies with Clients and Brands with Customers

It’s not uncommon for a new ad agency to launch with some clients from their former agency or with great publicity that brings in new prospects. It doesn’t take long for the agency principals to focus their excitement, passion, and...
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It’s that time of the year when ad agencies begin to plan next year’s new business strategy. More likely, not. Too often the right intentions get pushed aside for client work, staff turnover, personal emergency, and many other good reasons....
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Previously, I posted a couple of thoughts about the time required to get a new client once an ad agency starts a focused new business process. This post is part 3 and references actual examples that illustrate the time frame....
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Many agencies are doing business development the same way they did ten or more years ago. Yet the industry has changed so dramatically. Doing the same thing, the same way over and over again will yield a diminishing return no...
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Drew McLellan chats with John Heenan about the importance of making a great first impression when chasing new business and the importance of a crystal clear value proposition. Listen to the entire podcast, first broadcast 7/12
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When people talk about agency growth, they usually start with prospecting. You invest in people, technology, and resources to gain new clients and more revenue. You might even hire a consultant like me. Prospecting for new business is a critical...
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I just witnessed a valuable lesson and wanted to share. This experience reminded me of others with a very different outcome. And, I expect it is much more pervasive than we think. Too many times it’s a tragic story with...
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We are all guilty of being creatures of habit. That’s the way our brains are wired. But it’s not the way we break through barriers. There is profound truth to the old saw, the definition of insanity is doing the...
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You just fired your last BD person. You are ready to hire your first BD person. Everyone in your agency is a BD person. No one in your agency is a BD person. Agencies do business development in a variety...
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Everyone, no matter what they do, is faced with the same challenge; how should I spend my time most efficiently. Time is our most valuable resource and properly investing it can make the difference between success and something less. Time...
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If you missed the webinar on agency differentiation you can view it on the Catapult New Business website. There are tens of thousands of agencies selling the same products and services. Almost as many claim to be unique, different or...
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We are all witness to the change in marketing occurring all around us. Consumers, buyers, or more to the point, marketers are also in the middle of this change. Declining response rates, unwilling consumers, decreasing store traffic, scrutiny of transparency,...
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It is a common dilemma. You get into a review or a conversation with a marketer, and you have little or no current category-specific work to show. Your best case studies or your only cases are in other categories. You...
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The success of inbound marketing has always been vexing. But when it comes to ad agencies, the very people who make their clients’ the best content marketers, they often fall short. There are two enemies in the battle for inbound...
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Imagine starting your day looking at your prospect opportunity timeline and mulling over which brands you really want to go after and which you don’t. You sip your coffee and think about all the creative ways to connect with those...
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I posted some thoughts on this last year and received a lot of good feedback. You can read it here. To summarize, three key factors influence success, and then there is the exception. The first, according to recent sales statistics,...
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It’s been my world for more than 15 years. Not as a consultant but in the trenches honing my approach at small, mid-size and large agencies. I know how your prospects want to be engaged and how agencies can succeed. I engage and develop relationships that lead to more clients, more revenue, and a more predictable pipeline.
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Advertising agency business development is a tough job. Statistics show that firms win about 25% of what they pitch. That means they lose approximately 75% and the BD pro is at the tip of that spear. I’ve never heard any...
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Agencies that struggle to grow face many of the same problems; no time, limited resources, inadequate tools, inconsistent effort, unpredictable pipeline, lack of focus, too many misses. It is frustrating because your current clients love you and appreciate the hard work and extra effort you put into their success.
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Every new business pro will reach out to people who don’t know them. Those unsuspecting prospects often wonder why is this person is reaching out to me? When you make a cold contact, it is inevitable that the question will...
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You just fired your last BD person. You are ready to hire your first BD person. Everyone in your agency is a BD person. No one in your agency is a BD person. Agencies do business development in a variety...

It’s been my world for more than 15 years. Not as a consultant but in the trenches honing my approach at small, mid-size and large agencies. I know how your prospects want to be engaged and how agencies can succeed. I engage and develop relationships that lead to more clients, more revenue, and a more predictable pipeline.

It is typical for an agency to have a BD person or a BD team, or for the owner and leadership to have responsibility for agency growth. But does it end there? My favorite quote is from Philip Kotler, “the...

New clients are essential for ad agency success. What are the best qualities of a person who can successfully match a good client with a deserving agency? How can you spot that future superstar, the one you can keep, grow...

What should advertising agencies spend on their business development activities? I say more than you are! It is a topic of great debate among agencies and all businesses alike. Apple spends 7% of their revenue on sales and marketing, Tempur...